


Come Back to Me

by ChestnutPatronus14



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-23
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-30 06:31:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1015310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChestnutPatronus14/pseuds/ChestnutPatronus14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All it took was one text, one message from someone he did not even know to get Jack to return to earth, something he said he would never do after the events of Miracle Day, since the incident with 456. The man he loved was in a coma, and the prognosis was not good, but how could he stay away when a message was sent. Three words brought Jack back to earth, “he’s waking up.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Preview

**Author's Note:**

> This years NaNoWriMo work. Some things may be hard to write. Please note that as of this moment I have not seen Children of Earth or Miracle day. This is a work of fiction, and goes against the canon storyline.
> 
> That being said, besides the excerpt posted below, nothing else will be posted until November comes around. Bare with me darlings.

It was another one of those days; another day spent checking in on one of the patients. He had been assigned to her, specially assigned by Jack. Martha did not know the man she had been checking in on every so often, but if Jack had wanted her to keep an eye on him; she’d do that for him. After all they had been through together in that forgotten year, she certainly owed him that much. Honestly, Martha Jones had expected to walk in, check the man’s vitals then leave again. That was not what happened, far from it.  
The man may have been lying in bed, but instead of his eyes being closed, or staring blankly off at something, they were fixed on her. His fingers seemed to grasp at the bed. He was aware. Damn it he was waking up. Martha turned and called out into the hall other doctors coming in to check on him. She slipped off to the side, pulling her phone from her pocket. A three word message sent to a man who should not have been alive.  
“He’s waking up. – MJ.”  
Jack Harkness would get the message; the phone could contact him no matter where he was. Martha would leave it up to him to tell the rest of the team what was going on, it was not her place. Hell she probably should not have even told him, Jack was not listed as next of kin, that was the man’s sister. She would call her too, but it had been Jack who had wanted her to keep an eye on him. She had done that, she owed Jack that much.


	2. Introduction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In short? Neither this nor the other chapter I will be posting today have been sent to my beta reader. I apologize for any mistakes.

The phone in Ianto's fingers was shaking, his heart racing hard in his chest, to the point where he was sure that it would burst through his ribs and he would perish. The earth felt like it was shaking, and Ianto was finding it hard to breathe. Panic. That was the easiest way to describe it. Something in the Hub was wrong, something was off and there was no way that it would end well. Ianto had only noticed because of how Janet and Myfawyn were acting so strangely. It was as if they heard something that he could not see, something like a dog whistle.

So Ianto had started to search, and search, but he could not find the source of the noise. That was when he called Jack, that moment in time he needed to talk to him. Something wasn't right, something just felt so incredibly wrong and it frightened him.

"Ianto? What is it?"

"I don't know…something's not right…Janet and Myfawyn, they're acting weird…" Ianto rubbed at his head, looking around trying to find something. "I-I can't find anything that could be causing it…"

"Ianto stay calm...just keep talking to me we'll be there soon."

Ianto had not doubt of that. Jack would come for him, he always did. Jack would always come back for him and when he got there anything would be okay.

"Yeah okay…I can do that…"

"Tell me how they're behaving."

"Like they're in pain…like something is causing them pain that I can't see or-"

"Do you hear anything?"

"No….No I don't hear-"

Then the world around him seemed to explode, the ground shook, walls and ceilings collapsed. Ianto knew something hit his back, something had him pinned. The phone was just out of his reach even as he tried to get to it. The world was ringing, and god his entire body hurt.

"Ianto!" It was faint. But it was Jack's voice.

His head had cracked against the ground when he was sent down onto the ground by the force of the hardware falling on his back. "J-Jack…"

"Come on Ianto talk to me…" His fingers were outstretched towards the phone, trying to reach it.

Another round of shaking, explosion, more things falling. Ianto tried to keep his eyes open but he couldn't. He was so tired and his body hurt.

Then the world went dark.

* * *

There had never been a moment in Jack's life where he had been as truly afraid as he was when they got back to the Hub. The line on the phone was dead. He had no idea if Ianto was even still alive. But he had to find him. He had to.

He and Gwen both were down in the rubble, and Jack could hear sirens. People were coming. People were coming and they would find Ianto and everything would be okay in the end. Everything would be and then they could take that vacation he had told Ianto they could go on.

"Ianto!" His voice was hoarse, waving his hand in front of his face to try and get through the smoke. His eyes were scanning the rubble, trying to find him. "Come on Ianto where are you? Ianto!"

"Jack he's over here!" Jack whirled on his heels, making his way over to where Gwen and Rhys were. And there was Ianto, his body bloody, burned, and pinned beneath fallen debris. They had to get him out of there. Had to but the danger…

He knelt by him, his hand moving to his neck. A pulse. Faint but it was a pulse. "Hey come on Yan open your eyes…" Jack said his hand moving to rest on his cheek. "Come on everything's gonna be okay…"

The firemen, the EMTs they were swarming trying to get him out of the way, but god he didn't want to leave him. They got Ianto out, they got him on the stretcher and into the ambulance.

He'd be okay…Ianto would be okay. He'd get to the hospital and everything would be okay.


	3. Chapter One: Dreamworld

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set in the world Ianto's mind created during the coma. Enjoy.

It was the biggest story on the television and had been for several days after what could have been a disastrous leak. Someone had sent the press an image of Prime Minister Harkness engaged in a kiss with another man, his secretary Mr. Jones. It could have been disastrous, should have been by all accounts, but against all advice, from his friends and his peers, Jack Harkness had done something bold, something rash that caught the attention of the media world wide. Live on national television, he asked his long time boyfriend, Ianto Jones, to marry him. The press seemed to hold its breath collectively as they waited for an answer from the flustered Welshman, didn't let it go until Ianto had said yes. The crowd had erupted, most with cheers, some with anger. All with questions.

That had been a week ago, one week since the news hit the media, and it was still growing strong on the Internet super highway. Ianto Jones had gone from being the secretary for the Prime Minister, someone who was really only backstage for most of the time, to being directly in the limelight. He hated it. There was nothing else to it besides that. Ianto hated being in the spotlight and if one more person asked him anything about the wedding, he was not going to be held responsible for his actions.

So he couldn't entirely blame the press, they were just dogs sniffing around for a scrap of information, a tidbit that they could use to write a story. Not that Toshiko was helping him feel more comfortable in his suddenly new found fame, and certainly not with the press. It had been her idea that he and Jack should go out far more publically than previously. Considering that before the announcement, they never did anything publically, in fact their whole life together was secret. One long secret that Ianto was partially surprised that hadn't come out yet. They were always seen together. Always traveled together.

Living together had been harder. It included an intricate routine involving people who looked like them, making is seem like they went home separately, or that Ianto actually left Number 12 Downing Street. It was something that had put a strain on their relationship, stressed both men out that it nearly reached a boiling point. Now? Now they didn't have to hide it anymore. They were a couple and the entire bloody universe probably knew by that point.

However, the press was not as bad as the moving process. Ianto had never kept more than a drawer of clothes at Jack's place, for those nights when he did manage to spend the night. It was to keep up appearances, make sure the population was not aware. Hell at one point Jack had suggested spreading a rumor that he was in fact dating Ianto's sister, that way the couple would have logical reasoning for being as close as they were. But that wasn't the point. Ianto had his old flat, the first one he got when he graduation from University that for a time he shared with Jack.

Back when Jack started to run for the seat of Prime Minister, they insisted that they were just roommates. It hurt, and Ianto would never admit it, but it was the truth. He had to hide who he was after hiding for so long. It had only been his last year at University that he had been comfortable enough with himself to actually start telling people he was, as he defined it, pansexual. Jack was bisexual. Yes there was a difference. And they both had gone on long discussions about the definitions.

Ianto was not out publically. Jack was. Another part of their relationship that was difficult for both of them, but with the election…Ianto thought it better to stay hidden, and hope to God that that was enough to let Jack win. Whether or not that was part of the reason he had won? The world would never know.

It was out there now, that they were together, and the ring on Ianto's finger was proof of that. A simple band, made of white gold with blue stones set in it. Jack said they matched Ianto's eyes, something, which only had drawn a blush on his checks. But Ianto loved it, couldn't stop looking at it. Finally they could go out and act like a normal couple did, at the insistence of their mutual friend Toshiko.

Get them out there. Show that they are just as normal as any other straight couple. It was all part of the plan. So at least once or twice a week the couple went out to dinner in a nice restaurant, they could be seen shopping in markets together, picking up take-out, walking along the streets hand in hand, eating lunch together. Normal thing. Apparently normal things now included going to big fancy parties together as well.

While Ianto may have liked dressing nicely, he did have a fondness for suits, he hated the formal gatherings. The food had portions that were far too small, and the conversations would go one until he was ready to drink himself to the point of it seeming interesting. But he could play the part of the good partner, smile and chit chat with the best of them.

Nights after those parties were spent with Jack, alone in their bedroom. Soft words, gentle touches, just the two of them and life could not seem more perfect in those moments.

The only thing pressing on Ianto's mind, and apparently the reason why Toshiko, whom he affectionately called Tosh, invited him out to lunch was to plan one of those formal parties. A gathering, which she insisted, was called an engagement party; something to celebrate their engagement. Members of the government, their friends and family, all would be in attendance. The only thing it gave Ianto was a splitting headache.

"You're not paying attention again," Tosh scolded him, pointing at him with the chopsticks in her hand. "Focus Ianto, if you and I can get most of this finalized out, then perhaps it'll take something off Jack's plate."

The restaurant was one they had frequented when they were in college. Decent prices, good food, good service, bit out of the way from where they now worked, but for them it was worth it. Ianto should have known when Tosh suggested it that she was up to something, more so when she offered to pay, but he had given her the benefit of the doubt.

Ianto had ended up stabbing the dumpling with the chopsticks he was using, after dropping it three times, and had it half way to his mouth when she spoke. "I really don't see how this was 'let's get together and catch up' sort of lunch Tosh…This seems more like one of those meetings I arrange for you and planners."

In retaliation, she knocked the dumpling off his chopstick.

"Son of a bitch…"

"You deserved it. It's your party can't you at least try and be interested?"

"But I'm not interested. It's not my department. Events and planning them has always been more your area of expertise. I just make the guest lists." It was back to trying to get the dumpling again. "How about you assume I agree with everything you suggest?"

"Then it's pink princess theme." There was a serious look on her face and Ianto had no doubt in his mind that if he did not cooperate, it would end up being a pink princess theme engagement party. It was the look in her eye, which one that he knew meant that he was in deep trouble. "Your choice."

Which was how he got roped into helping plan the engagement party when all he really wanted to do was get back and finish his work. A guest list was finalized, and colors had been picked by the time they were in the car heading back to the office. All that was really left was the food, which Toshiko said she would handle herself. It would be an event the press was invited to.

Ianto made a mental note to flat out refuse to let the media within two hundred yards of the wedding when it finally did occur. Hell, he was surprised that Tosh wasn't pushing him to plan the wedding more. Or perhaps that was because Jack had said something… They both loved Toshiko; she was brilliant with computers and made sure that everything ran smoothly. It was why she was the head of Public Relations, and with Ianto as secretary, most things did run smoothly. The wedding, however, was not hers to plan. It was theirs.

Once back at the office, Ianto was at his desk, going over the paperwork, making phone calls to confirm meetings or set them up. The usual day to day activities that he did to make sure the office ran smoothly and that Jack got where he needed to be on time. What would the world think if the Prime Minister was late? The scandal.

The door to Jack's office opened, and people started to file out. A few he recognized from previous meetings, including the head of Interpol, a man they nicknamed Doctor, due to the fact he always looked like a professor more than the head of an international agency devoted to stopping crime. He was a friend of Jack's, and Ianto decided he should ask if Jack would want him at the wedding. God it had only been a week ago and he was already thinking about the wedding…

When the last person filed out, Ianto got to his feet, his portfolio in hand as well as a stack of papers that needed Jack's signature. "Sir, if you are not to busy I ha-"

"What do you think about the color white?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"White? You know the color? Snow, clouds, polar bears. White. What do you think?"

"It's not technically a color sir…"

"Ianto."

"I like it just fine."

Ianto watched as Jack moved from behind his desk towards him, closing the door to the office. Then Jack reached over and took the stack of papers from him, flipping through them with a positively bored expression on his face. Not surprising, he had spent the past few hours in meetings. "Should wear white," Jack said moving back towards the desk.

"Sir?"

"The wedding?" Jack looked up his head cocked to the side. "Honestly Yan, what did you think I was referring to?"

"Some new bizarre dress code? Your fascination with doctors?"

"Cute." Jack motioned him to come closer as he set the papers on his desk. His hands moved to Ianto's waist, a grin on his lips. "So what do you think? White on our wedding day?"

There was a small part of him that wanted to gently push him back, they were at the office, this was not office appropriate behavior. Granted…there was far worse office behavior that could take place, things that they, well Jack, had whispered about doing in those private moments alone.

"I think it's a perfect idea," Ianto replied, a smile coming across his lips.

"Excellent." The smile that appeared on Jack's features was positively contagious, and it only made Ianto's own smile brighten. "Come on, can take that paper work home with us. What do you say? Get out early, pick up a pizza on the way home…Won't even make you order coleslaw."

"I'll get my coat."


	4. Chapter Two: Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters titled 'Past' such as this will take place after Ianto went into the coma. Present are ones that take place two years later.

_“There has been significant damage sir, there is the chance that he might not wake up.” Or at least that was what the doctor was telling him. It had been hours since Ianto had been rushed to the hospital, and there was still the rest of the world to deal with. There were so many people he had to go protect, so many who needed his help. But didn’t Ianto need him most of all?_  
“Call if he changes…” Jack’s voice was hoarse. He leaned down pressing his lips to Ianto’s forehead. “I’ll come back Yan…you just stay strong.”  
How had everything gone so terribly wrong? Jack stared at the unmoving form of Ianto Jones, laying as still as ever in the bed. Yet there was so little that he could do for him… Day after day he spent with Ianto, watching over him. Gwen was the one running Torchwood, and yes she was competent, but for him, being at Torchwood without Ianto did not feel right. At all.  
There was no one there to make sure he got the paper work done, no smiling face greeting him. No one brewing the coffee. Ianto would bring it to him whenever he seemed to since that Jack had needed it, even if he was asleep. He could think back to one night when he must have just fallen asleep at his desk, and what woke him up was Ianto draping a blanket over his shoulders, and the soft clink of a cup of coffee as it was set down on the desk. It was the little things that had called him to fall head over heels for Ianto Jones.  
It was those little things that kept Ianto in Torchwood that day. He had asked him to stay behind, make contact with Torchwood Two then head over there to get their help. This was not something that the one Torchwood hub could handle alone. It was the only reason that Ianto had been in the Hub. It was the only reason why Ianto had not been somewhere else when the Hub had gone up in flames.  
Other people stopped by from time to time to check on the Welshman, though Jack was the one who was there the most. He saw no need to do anything else. Even if he knew that there was important work to be done, it was almost painful to drag himself away from Ianto’s side. There were so many things he had wanted to do, so many things he wanted to tell him. Now? It seemed like he might never actually get the chance to do that. How on earth was it that he was supposed to be okay with Ianto laying there?  
His sister blamed him; Jack could see it in the woman’s eyes. She blamed him and she hated him. He nearly fled the room the first time Rihannon Davies and her two children, Mica and David, were there to visit Ianto. It was something that could have been so much more volatile than it was. She could have started made a scene, she could have yelled at him, slapped him, demanded he be pulled from the room. She didn’t. Say what you would about the woman, she did understand that her brother loved him.  
Except…Jack was feeling as if he did not deserve any of the kind words that Ianto had for him, nor anything his family would offer. He could remember the little girl, Mica, going over to him where he sat while the others were with Ianto. She just looked at him, and with the empathy and compassion of a young child, she hugged him. She had no idea of knowing how Jack felt about Ianto, had no way of knowing that Jack had every intention of staying.  
But she knew he was sad, and that he needed a friendly and a hug.  
That night had been the first night that he had broken down, the first night that he had truly just cried. For Ianto, for Steven, for Tosh and Owen. So many people he had lost in the past few years who could still be alive, but weren’t because they had met him. How was he supposed to stay on earth, when he could barely look at anyone? It felt as if everyone was whispering, talking about him behind his back.  
Gwen helped, she always seemed to just know that he needed someone. A phone call, actually stopping by the hospital room Ianto was confined to. Her and Rhys both, but it was a bittersweet time. Every so often when she would stop by, he’d be reminded of all the things he could never have. A loving partner, a child… A family.  
Torchwood had been like his family, and he did truly care for each of the team members. Everything about them, they were special, unique, and Jack could not have picked a better bunch if he had tried.  
There were tears in his eyes, though they did not fall, as he watched Ianto. He was pale, unmoving, his eyes closed. The rhythm of the heart monitor, the machine helping him to breathe, was little comfort. It meant he was alive, but god would he want to be? The simple mention of Cybermen would send the young man into a downward spiral. He did not want to be a machine, he did not want to become like them. Yet there he was, the machines feeding him, helping him breathe, keeping him alive.  
There was a chance he would wake up, a small chance, at least that was what he had been told. It was the reason why Jack was there so often, holding his hand, telling him stories. He told him about his life before Torchwood, of his travels with the Doctor, his home planet, his time on Earth. About his brother, John Hart, Rose Tyler and Martha Jones. How he had become something that should not exist; a fixed point in time, and how that had driven the Doctor away from him. How hurt he had felt.  
How he was the face of his home planet, the Face of Bo. A young man with handsome features who lived on one of Earth’s colonies in the 52nd century. He thought Ianto would like it there, told him about all the different marvels, and how a relationship like theirs was normal. It didn’t matter in the future no one cared. Ianto would have fit in there; he would have thrived.  
But his stories were running out, those tales he wanted to tell Ianto were running thin. It got to the point where he would sit and watch him, or do something other than just stare. He wanted Ianto to wake up, wanted to be there when he finally would open those beautiful blue eyes, maybe even give him that smirk he knew all too well. And then he’d take them both off earth. He’d get them as far away from this damned planet as possible.  
Martha Jones was in the hospital, which had been a surprise to Jack. Though a welcomed one if he was being honest. A friend who knew about the year that no one else did. Of what he had gone through in that year. The first time he saw her, he nearly started to cry again. They had spent time just talking, and she had managed to get him to eat. Martha had promised to watch over Ianto if Jack ever decided to leave the hospital, would contact him the second something changed, and Jack appreciated that.  
His fingers were wrapped around Ianto’s hand, his thumb brushing against the back of his skin. That day, he was just sitting, one of the books he had seen Ianto reading from time to time beside him. Perhaps he’d read from it, or he might just sit and stare. There was really nothing more to it than that. All he could do was sit and wait.  
“Never thought I’d see the day when Jack Harkness would stay in one place for one man.” The voice caught him off guard, and Jack’s hand flew to the gun at his waist. And then he froze. A man he did not recognize was standing in the doorway, bowtie on his neck, eyes watching him. Behind him were two other people, a woman with red hair, and a man with brown hair. “Easy Captain, we don’t mean any harm.”  
Something about him was familiar, all to familiar and it made his skin crawl that he could not recognize the man. “I don’t…”  
“Would have thought you would. I’m offended Jack.”  
It hit him in that moment as the man moved into the room, the other two following him. The one with the short brown hair was looking towards the machines, the chart at the end of Ianto’s bed.  
“Doctor…” Then Jack was on his feet, his arms around the other man. “Thought you and the TARDIS hated me.”  
“You repel me, a fixed point in time. But you were my friend and companion first. That is what matters.” The Doctor held Jack’s face in his hands then looked to the bed. “Right introduction time. Amy, Rory, this is Captain Jack Harkness, a former companion of mine.”  
Amy sort of rolled her eyes. “Yes we figured that out quite easily Doctor.” Rory, on the other hand was still eying Ianto, a frown on his features.  
Jack watched as all eyes moved to Ianto’s still form. “This is Ianto…” Jack said quietly. “I don’t know how much you know ‘bout what’s been going on Doctor…”  
“I know enough.” There was a silence that hung over the five of them. “Rory, Amy, wait in the hall please.” The two, the newest companions, left. “You can’t keep going on like this Jack. You can’t do this forever…it’ll crush you.”  
“How could you say that?” Jack asked looking at him with disbelief. “How can you tell me that when you locked-”  
“It was for her own protection. She’s safe and you know it.” The Doctor sighed running his fingers through his hair. “There’s a saying…time lords have two hearts, one to be compassionate…one to grow cold. Jack, hope is important, love is important. But look at him. He’s not moving…”  
“I can’t leave him again Doctor…”  
“Would he want you to stay? Would he want you to see him like this?”  
No. The answer was no. Ianto would not want him to hang around. Despite everything, Ianto knew about Jack, he knew that their time may only be short, but that it was important. Jack wouldn’t forget him. Not a single thing.  
“I have no where else to go.”  
The Doctor paused hesitating for a moment before he held out a key to him. “Yes, you do…think about it.” Then the Doctor left the room too, and Jack was left alone with Ianto again.  
His eyes were on Ianto, watching his lover lay there, trapped within his own body, possibly never to wake again. Hours upon hours he sat, one hand holding Ianto’s, the other holding the key. How was he supposed to pick? How could he possibly? Yes he’d be able to return to him the second something happened…wouldn’t he? His vortex manipulator worked again. He could come home…  
But he needed to get away. He had to. The Doctor was right, just sitting there watching Ianto waste away was heartbreaking, and could turn his already broken heart to stone. Ianto wouldn’t want that for him. He’d want him to be happy…Wouldn’t he?  
And Jack would know if god forbid Ianto died…he’d see him in the darkness. Maybe he wouldn’t remember, but at least he’d be at peace…out of pain.  
At some point Martha had entered the room again, and only when she nudged his shoulder did he come out of this thoughts. “You look like hell Jack.”  
He felt like it. His eyes were back on Ianto again, his lips pressed into a thin line. “I’m going to take a trip Martha…” he said quietly, his fingers holding the key even tighter. “You call me if he wakes up. Got it?”  
“Of course I will Jack.”  
He stood about to pull on his coat when he stopped and left it beside Ianto on the bed. He should have it. Something familiar in the hellish place he was in. His fingers brushed against Ianto’s hair, along his cheek, then he leaned down kissing his lips. “I’ll be back for you Yan…I’ll always come back for you…”  
As Jack left the room, he heard Martha speak again, though in a whisper.  
“Tell him I said hello.”


	5. Chapter Three: Present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said in the previous chapter, this one (titled Present) it would be in present time. Two years after Ianto's accident.  
> This and the previous chapter have not been edited.

It was the same thing day after day with the Welshman, the one Martha had promised to look after. She’d go, she’d talk to his primary doctor and the nursing staff. No change. Nothing. The biggest improvement was the days when he would open his eyes, but not function. Those days were the ones that she hated. There was no life in the eyes, though he could function on his own. A catatonic state, the living dead. Jack did not need to know about that. He did not need to have those images in his mind about this man.  
The day a few months ago when he had slipped back into the coma, nearly broke her heart. Something had happened, something and he just would not open his eyes. No response to any stimuli. It was as if they lost him again. It was another one of those things that she would never let Jack know about. Not after all that he had been through. In her opinion, it was a fate far worse than death.   
That day was different. That day when she went to check on Ianto Jones, something had happened. The nurses were rushing about, everyone chatting excitedly. Why not? In the ward they were in any response was good. Ianto was showing signs of life, of movement and response.  
Martha had put the jacket over him when she had been there the previous day, and, according to the nurse who had been caring for him, he grabbed it when someone tried to take it. His fingers curled around the material and held it. It was progress. A sign. Ianto was aware of his surroundings and he could wake up. The best news all day in their opinion.  
She had insisted on seeing him, on going in to see him. Insisted that she stayed by his side until Jack came back. Not that she messaged him at first, she wanted to see for herself. God she did. He was aware. She could see it.  
Only when she was positive that he could wake up, that was when she pulled out her phone and sent the message.  
He’s waking up. –MJ  
“Don’t worry Ianto…” she said in a soft voice. “Jack will be here soon. You’ll see. Be walking through that door any minute now.”  
_______  
The text message had sent an absolute chill down Jack’s spine. Two years, two damn years with just getting updates about Ianto. No change, he was out of danger. He wouldn’t respond to stimuli. And now? Now he was waking up. So much had happened; so much had changed. There was no real easy way for him to respond to the text message, no one simple answer. He had traveled with the Doctor, he had done things that were not fair to Ianto who was trapped on earth, specifically with an old flame.  
Yet Ianto was waking up. His Ianto was finally waking up and responding. No longer a vegetable. Ianto was coming back to him and he had to get home. He had to get back to Earth. It would take help from the Doctor. The Vortex Manipulator had started to malfunction again, his own little fixes had been damaged, and it would not function. There were times when he had been on earth, but not near Cardiff. Not close enough to visit Ianto. The Ponds had gone. He had met River Song, the Doctor’s wife, and the newest companion, a girl named Clara. He had seen incredible things, stories that would blow Ianto’s mind.  
And all the while he had been thinking of Ianto. Of the Welshman that he had fallen in love with, the one person he would never forget and could never forget. Ianto was not a blip in time; he would always be a fixed point in his life. Something he would cherish and never want to let go of. It was why he had to get back to him. It was why he had to get home.  
How often had he laid in his bunk in the TARDIS awake, thinking of life with Ianto? It was love, there was no other way to describe it. Yes, there had been many people in Jack’s life that he loved, but there was only one man that he ever even thought about settling down with. That was Ianto. His broken and tired companion. How he had suffered over the years, how much Ianto had trusted him.  
Jack had seen the scar on his leg, the one from Canary Wharf. He never pushed him to answer, never tried to get him to talk about it. Ianto told him willingly, the story of how he had been in the conversion chamber, how the metal had started to be grafted onto his skin, and how someone had pulled him out. It tore his leg open, and hell Ianto was lucky to have survived.   
And of his father, of the story of how his father had pushed him ‘too hard’ on the swing, and how he had fallen and broken his leg. How the doctors all tried to get him to say it was his father who had done that to him, but the scared little boy wouldn’t answer honestly. How he had pushed himself too hard too fast and nearly fractured his leg again because he did not want to disappoint his father.  
Jack always listened, and never tried to force him to answer. There was no need to compare war stories, not with Ianto. Not when he knew how hard of a time Ianto had with opening up to people, especially when it concerned his father or what happened at Canary Wharf. Even if anyone in Torchwood could open up a file and read about it, Ianto was one of the few members of Torchwood One who had declined the Retcon. Whether his reasons had been pure at the time, Jack could recall when Ianto said ‘someone has to remember, not all of us can forget…’  
He had been with the Doctor in the so called ‘kitchen’ in the TARDIS. It was rather elaborate, enough food that none of them would ever be hungry, but it was not like the kitchens that Jack or Clara knew. The best way to describe it was like something out of a science fiction movie. A true space ship kitchen. He must have had a startled look because the Doctor was staring.  
“Captain you still with me? Or do I need to take drastic measures?”  
“Huh?” Jack looked towards the Doctor, staring at him as if he was pretty little unicorn that had appeared out of nowhere. “Sorry what were you going on about?”  
“No way Jack, seems to me you got something far more interesting to talk about.” The Doctor leaned back in his chair, a cup of tea in his hands.   
There was no coffee on the TARDIS, something that Jack was thankful for. Nothing was as good as Ianto’s. Never was good enough. Jack had given up coffee, not something his body had been particularly fond of, but it just did not taste the same, and he couldn’t bare to try and make it the way Ianto did.  
For a moment, Jack said nothing, just kept his eyes on the phone in his hand. Silence spoke volumes; to the point where he did not even need to answer his question. “He’s waking up.”   
The words hung heavy in the air, the tension so present that it could probably have been cut with a knife. Jack looked up towards the Doctor, a pleading look in his eyes. “Ianto’s waking up…”  
“Jack I can’t take you-”  
Jack nearly threw the manipulator across the table towards him. “Then fix it so I can get myself back there. I’m not leaving him there alone Doc, not when I know he’s going to wake up.”  
“Jack, don’t you think that-”  
“I’m being irrational? Maybe. Don’t really care now fix it.” His voice was elevated, and Clara had come into the room to see what all the commotion was about. “I’m going back to him. I promised him and I won’t break that promise.”  
He stared at the Doctor, and the Doctor stared back. A battle of iron wills, neither wanting to back down. Perhaps the Doctor thought it was best if Jack stayed away, easier to stay away than watch a lover suffer in silence. Maybe he was trying to protect Jack.  
Jack wanted nothing to do with it.  
He wanted to go back to where he belonged, and that was beside Ianto. He deserved everything in the world that he could give him, and so much more. He would, one way or another he would get back to earth and back to Ianto.  
For a long while, the Doctor just stared at Jack. Then finally, with a sigh, he picked up the Vortex manipulator, and used the screwdriver to fix it. “I don’t think that this is a good idea…” the Doctor mumbled sliding it across the desk to Jack. “But I wish you luck.”  
Jack was hardly paying attention, already on his feet. He fixed the vortex manipulator to his wrist, setting in the date, the time he wanted to go to. Back to Cardiff, back to Ianto. His eyes moved to look at the Doctor. “Don’t need luck. Need a miracle.” With that he turned the manipulator on, and was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned for Chapter One!


End file.
